The Sphinx's Lair

oAlt

01:10

@Stiv this is one valid way

Alternatively, [you will find the word being clued by the] definition at [this particular] wordplay

msh210

02:43

@Stiv yes that was my intention

@Stiv as was this

Jafe

only remaining question is whether you are in fact afraid of shark-bears

msh210

please, I'd rather not talk about them. shudders

Jafe

hehehe

struggled with a crossword grid for a while where all the answers on the edges were too short... i was like "man, if only i had another column on both sides"

took me like a day to realise i can, you know, add another column on both sides

msh210

beware of grid size creep

Jafe

nah, bigger is always* better

no note for that asterisk, just leaving it there in case i need to amend the statement later

msh210

02:52

Ten years later: Jafe posts a 324×324 crossword.

"Oh just something I came up with quickly between Gladys puzzles."

Jafe

filler content

fun fact: my two highest-voted puzzles were both quick fillers while i worked on a bigger thing

kind of negating the bigger is always better statement above... good thing i left the asterisk in

Sphinx

0

Q: Pinwheels - Colombian Sudoku

Here is another interesting Colombian Sudoku. The rules are as follows: complete the Sudoku on the left with numbers from 1 to 8 using the grid on the right. Keep in mind that the number of dots in each column indicates how many numbers will match in the solved Sudoku. The same applies to the row...

Prince North Læraðr

04:48

@msh210 BAHAHAHAHA'

Sphinx

06:03

0

Q: Ancient Cipher -- Can You Decode It?

In a forgotten corner of an old library, hidden among many dusty volumes, I stumbled upon a puzzle in a book that has me utterly intrigued. The artifact I found contains a cipher text, and it seems that uncovering its true meaning is not as straightforward as it first appeared. Here's what I foun...

enigmatic-puzzle cipher no-computers

The Empty String Photographer

07:33

chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/66152896#66152896 is ROBLOX

“Robert the locksmith makes a game”

lock -> lox

Rob + lox = Roblox

Roblox is a game

Jafe

@TheEmptyStringPhotographer this is sorry ("sore" + "rye")?

The Empty String Photographer

@Jafe yes

(Not a cccc btw)

Jafe

i noticed you mentioned russian pronunciation above, wanna try solving a russian-language clue i made?

The Empty String Photographer

08:05

I don’t know Russian that well

and I’m not sure I want to

Jafe

alright no worries

shark bears in the starboard comment sounds outlandish but i think it's not an all that far-fetched term considering we have tiger sharks and eagle rays

(and fishwives, heh heh heh heh heh)

The Empty String Photographer

08:29

Major hint dropped for my puzzle on the main site

@msh210 and the answer to every crossword clue is just a series of a’s…

baa, no aardvark screaming (3)

Also it’s not a word so it’s sadly invalid

Jafe

the xkcd guy seemed to think aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa was a valid answer though :P

in xkcd.com/2957

The Empty String Photographer

09:02

There are exactly 2222 questions tagged wordplay on this site!

msh210

@TheEmptyStringPhotographer holy moly cannoli

Stiv

09:18

@msh210 For clarity does that mean North was correct and should go next?

Tell you what, Googling 'shark bear' comes up with some great image hits.

Jafe

hahah

msh210

@Stiv I'd think you, but shrug

Stiv

Okay, well that sounds like authorisation to me. One sec...

Stiv

09:48

Confession time...

CCCC: OP is (for the most part) more a renegade chatbot, going around, switched on in perpetuity (11)

Haha, imagine...

Heck of a plot twist

oAlt

@Stiv (turns out to actually be true)

The Empty String Photographer

@Stiv perpetually?

Stiv

Too close to a word used in the clue itself (perpetuity), so therefore likely not the one I'm after... I'd have used a different word to clue that.

The Empty String Photographer

Happens to be 11 letters and fits the last part

Stiv

True, but very unlikely to be correct given that it is very similar in its etymology to a word present in the clue. Cryptic clues tend not to do that.

The Empty String Photographer

10:03

Time to google prefixes

oAlt

@Stiv I'm (OP is) mor(-e) Tay (renegade chatbot) going around lit (switched on) = immortality (perpetuity)

Stiv

@oAlt Perfectly explained :)

oAlt

10:25

Not the CCCC: Assorted batch, to Stiv? (7)

CCCC: Freely eat and drink (3)

Stiv

@oAlt TEA* (drink)

oAlt

@Stiv yep

Stiv

CCCC: Some of the art (i.e. Rembrandt's) is more wholesome (8)

oAlt

@Stiv heartier hidden word

Stiv

@oAlt Yup :)

oAlt

10:42

I can't refine the surface further

CCCC: Tomato-based baked dish with tenor and orchestra's first piece in the background, having one dominant note from F major key plucked (9)

Jafe

11:10

clicksaver service: it's C

Sphinx

0

Q: Atbash Decipher Puzzle

This is a puzzle. Answer is I think word (got this puzzle from a friend). Puzzle: GmoSmtzHgzsfHrhSpxlQZllAnvlHoovsHbGiHhgvOoovnHwMzgfjhHrqzMlGvmt Hint 1: If you’re caught between a Gnoll and Mountain, stay strong and unwavering. That's the only way to stay on the righteous path. Hint 2: Is it fo...

enigmatic-puzzle cipher cryptic-clues

Jafe

ah it's the italian music word for 'plucked': PIZZICATO = PIZZA (tomato-based baked dish) plus T (tenor) O (orchestra's first piece), containing I (one) C (dominant note from F major)

'in the background' simply meaning that the T O come last?

Stevo

looks right too me

Ankoganit

pinging @oAlt

oAlt

11:26

@Jafe yep, your turn

Jafe

CCCC: Losing play for one point at The 'G? (6)

can't spell argh

think it's okay now

Ankoganit

@Jafe it's A-R-G-H i think

2

oAlt

@msh210 looks right tomato

Jafe

thanks! :D

oAlt

@TheEmptyStringPhotographer Re: your deleted message, don't worry, 1) I don't usually get it that fast and 2) dictionaries are my friend

@Jafe loll

Jafe

11:32

me when reading italian recipes: you say tomato, i say potato

msh210

11:47

you must be Irish

Jafe

"you say blinis, i say guinness?"

msh210

reminds me (somehow) of the old joke… "My sister married an Irishman." "Oh, really?" "No, O'Reilly."

Jafe

heheh

msh210

One point at the 'G can be run, bye, leg bye, wide, no ball, sundry, or extra. (Or maybe more things.) But I'm guessing that that's not relevant.

Oh, wait, footie is also played there, apparently.

TakingNotes

@Jafe is it a ddef for BEHIND? with BEHIND in a race being losing and BEHIND being a play for one point in AFL, which is played at the MCG?

Jafe

11:59

that's it

msh210

ah, and I was just looking up ~~footie~~ footy one-point plays

Jafe

shorter list than the cricket one :)

Sphinx

12:13

0

Q: Prove that every integer has a multiple that is a fibonacci number

Can you prove that every integer has a multiple that is a fibonacci number? Source: I will post the source later. The source contains the solution.

mathematics

TakingNotes

ah, years of watching AFL games have finally paid off in the form of already knowing what a one-point play is called

Jafe

it's all been leading up to this moment, really

i've been to 3 games total, went last saturday with my kid and our team lost so badly that 20 min before the end there was already a steady flow of home team fans walking away from the stadium

TakingNotes

12:38

wanted to make the 8 this year but unfortunately looks like my team doesn't have a chance with only one week left in the season

we've always got next year though

anyway new CCCC time

CCCC: Bemoaned about the Spanish-born duds losing lead to team at The 'G (9, 6)

juicifer

@TakingNotes m(el b.)ourned (-l)emons

TakingNotes

wow faster than i though

good job

juicifer

I also have a passing knowledge about the teams in the afl 😎

Jafe

😎

gladys puzzle's out, folks

fun fact: gladys has never played basketball because she refuses to take part in a game where you get penalised for travelling

8

juicifer

12:54

lmaooo

Sphinx

1

Q: The Master Tetrist

This is part 70 of the puzzle series Around the World in Many Days. Each part is solvable on its own. Dear Puzzling, This is a diagramless crossword with Tetris mechanics. Fill the grid by placing the given pieces in order (row by row, left to right), so that at least one cell of each piece has ...

knowledge grid-deduction geography crosswords tetris

juicifer

CCCC: Demolishing Velcro plant (6)

Stiv

@juicifer CLOVER (plant) = VELCRO*

juicifer

@Stiv yep :)

Stiv

Short and sweet

CCCC: Actor loathes pianist secretly (8)

Jafe

12:58

_thes pian_

Stiv

@Jafe Of course :)

And...

That concludes my current series.

You know the drill...

Jafe

!

juicifer

!!

Jafe

archive dive it is

CCCC: Russian flyer takes ten inches, perhaps in the middle of mojito preparation (6)

msh210

@Stiv are you secretly a cow?

Stiv

13:09

I'm being accused of being a lot of things here today...

msh210

I mean, who but a cow would consider clover short and sweet?

Jafe

answers to stiv clues since the end of the previous sequence: (tax avoidance), aquamarine, octagonal, fermanagh, confessarius, mountain range, fort william, alessio romagnoli, compassionate, unmarked, spinach, adenocarcinoma, black forest gateau, migraine, the pentagon, all is fair in love and war, immortality, heartier, thespian

btw, clover has appeared three times as a c4 answer and it's interesting to see how different setters handle that word

juicifer: anagram of velcro, jafe: c plus lover

deusovi: whatever this is

Jun 26, 2017 at 15:39, by Deusovi

CCCC: 💑📥🚓🚮🅰️☘️ 6️⃣ [you should see 7 symbols there - if anything looks wrong, please see the screenshot (though particular details are unimportant)]

msh210

13:28

@Jafe why the parentheses?

Jafe

i think the first one was an outtake from the previous series... doesn't mean it can't be part of this one too though

msh210

ah

Stiv

I will confirm now that the one in parentheses genuinely was a one-off, outside of any series. Not like oAlt...

Jafe

heheh

Stiv

Aug 16 at 14:29, by oAlt

Well, I have no clue sequence prepared yet, so a regular clue is coming right up

(In case anyone wasn't sure what I meant there...)

msh210

13:30

so there are ≤17 (probably 17) in this list

juicifer

I count 18

Jafe

@Stiv sus

Sphinx

0

Q: My first actual cryptic

My first attempt at making a cryptic crossword. All suggestions and feedback appreciated! ACROSS DOWN 1. 2nd radar fabricates imminent bomb drop (3,4) 1. Writer is golden female Thor? 6. Little short French city, say 2. Direction of sunshine 7. For digestion aid: first try head-scratc...

cryptic-crosswords

Stiv

You're missing AUBERGINE in second too...

Jafe

oh sorry

Stiv

13:38

Actually, did I even post that one?! I meant to...

Ha, I think I created that one and then assumed I had posted it, d'oh. Okay, imagine there's an 'AUBERGINE' in between AQUAMARINE and OCTAGONAL and one day I'll surprise you all by posting it and fix everything with a clever time travel plot device...

6

Q: A lesson in attention to detail

Background (to be read): In 2023, I created and posted on this site a series of puzzles called A Trivial Pursuit. This involved creating 24 themed puzzles, each of which produced a one-word final answer, which - once all 24 answers were combined together in a particular way - would help to solve ...

word knowledge letters

Jafe

gotcha

Stiv

(sigh) I've been too tired for months...

juicifer

fo(u)r weeks, even

Stiv

Ha!

Prince North Læraðr

@msh210 I’d agree, Stiv got the hardest part of the clue figured out

I was also asleep xD

@msh210 Holy cow

@Jafe what the HECK

Jafe

13:53

exactly

oAlt

Wow, lotsa things going on, I'll have to read really slowly...

Jafe

only way i know how

Prince North Læraðr

Deusovi is a monster

God of Puzzles? More like Eldritch Deity 💀

oAlt

@juicifer Ah yes, the Melbourne Lemons

Prince North Læraðr

@oAlt Same xD

Jafe

13:56

if doomguy taught us anything it's that when life gives you demons, make demonade

oAlt

Ok, it seems that no one has found the secret behind Stiv's series, is that correct?

juicifer

not yet

oAlt

👌

juicifer

confirmed list is aquamarine, aubergine, octagonal, fermanagh, confessarius, mountain range, fort william, alessio romagnoli, compassionate, unmarked, spinach, adenocarcinoma, black forest gateau, migraine, the pentagon, all is fair in love and war, immortality, heartier, thespian

interesting that we have both "octagonal" and "the pentagon" in here

Stiv

@Jafe Meanwhile, this is MIXING (mojito preparation) = MI(X+IN)G where a MIG is the Russian fighter jet

Jafe

14:11

correct!

Stiv

Great, if only I had one written already...

juicifer

oh, duh

Stiv

CCCC: To the French, mixing gin and beer is something potentially quite rude (9)

juicifer

@Stiv au bergine* ;)

Stiv

TIIIIMMMMME TRRRRAAAAAAVVVVEEEELL COOOMMMEEENNCCIIINNNGG ~=#%&

3

@juicifer Yep :)

msh210

14:21

@Jafe why "perhaps"?

Jafe

def's meant to be from the perhaps onwards

msh210

@juicifer yeah… now 19 of course

@Jafe ah, okay

@juicifer what the dickens?!?

A Web search tells me there are 19 types of smile. I do hope none of them is aubergine… or adenocarcinoma.

The only other 19 I can think of offhand is the Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum, but I highly doubt that's relevant here.

juicifer

CCCC: Maybe Suge Knight put couple of rounds into Biggie, initially with LAPD's protection? (5)

Jafe

@msh210 😊🍆

msh210

@Jafe thanks, just what I needed

anyway, I'm not in the middle of mojito preparation

@juicifer Blood (maybe Suge Knight, a member of the Bloods) = oo into B_ with L_D

Jafe

14:30

@juicifer OO in B_ L_D = BLOOD

argh!

juicifer

@msh210 yep!

@Jafe congrats on the correct spelling :)

Jafe

heheh

msh210

CCCC: Growth upward limits very few (3)

juicifer

_two_<

msh210

@juicifer aye

Stiv's list sounds like an announcer's test

Stiv

14:34

A hint to my hidden series: This is not a complete set of some sort, more a [word-property] puzzle in itself with a mechanism to confirm your answer is correct.

juicifer

CCCC: A metallic element found in treasure? (8)

oAlt

14:50

I had wondered if there was something hidden backward in each answer. Well, I did find Narnia hidden backward in "mountain range" (which might make for some alternate cluings too) but that's it. And Stiv's hint probably eliminates that possibility anyway...

(And Stiv has done the hidden-backward-in-the-word gimmick before, with the animal names each corresponding to the 26 letters of the alphabet, so maybe unlikely that he'll do it again...?)

I was about to say actinium &lit because that's tin in Acium which is a jewelry brand, but I just realized it would be abnormal to have actinium in my jewelry or any treasure for that matter

Stiv

@juicifer PLATINUM = PL(A+TIN)UM &lit! where PLUM is a synonym of treasure (see e.g. here)

juicifer

@Stiv precisely!

Stiv

Wasn't familiar with that usage before but a thesaurus is a big help

juicifer

I wasn't familiar with it either, I was just looking up plum to see if it might have a definition that would fit

needless to say it was better than I could've imagined lol

Stiv

Worked v nicely

Stiv

15:15

CCCC: Cocaine taken in extra amounts - because of these? (10)

msh210

@Stiv addi(c)tions &lit

nice clue

oAlt

"because of these" makes me think of "consequently" but I can see no wordplay from that, and it's 12 letters long

Ah nice find

msh210

thanks

Stiv

@msh210 Correct :) Think it's probably more a cdef than a true &lit as the end part is surplus to any literal reading though. Tried to make an actual &lit of this for a while but couldn't quite get it over the line...

msh210

I think it works. Extra amounts (i.e. larger amounts) are because of additions (acts of adding).

juicifer

15:25

I think you might've been able to get away with just "cocaine taken in extra amounts?" too

wouldn't be the tightest definition but I've also seen looser

msh210

CCCC: The Veil, e.g.! (4)

Stiv

Yeah, that would have worked pretty nicely. Just couldn't put my finger on it in time though

juicifer

@msh210 is this FILM ddef &lit (as in the movie, and as in the cloth)?

msh210

@juicifer that was indeed my intention

oAlt

@msh210 agreed

msh210

15:36

I'm seeing some country anagrams… aubergine~Niger, octagonal~Tonga, spinach&thespian~Spain, migraine~Nigeria

spinach~China too

unmarked~Denmark

yeah, this has got to be it, but what are the rest…

juicifer

aquamarine->armenia

I think it's all at the end of the word

fermanagh->ghana

Ankoganit

ah octagonal must be angola then, not tonga

oAlt

oh wow

msh210

ah nice

and that's why Spain isn't a repeat

oAlt

Russia for confessarius, but have to do something else so I can't continue

msh210

15:47

oh and their initials in order spell "anagrammed countries". Nice, @Stiv

oAlt

ok I didn't see that coming either, nice

juicifer

full list: aquamarine -> armenia, aubergine -> niger, octagonal -> angola, fermanagh -> ghana, confessarius -> russia, mountain range -> argentina, fort william -> mali, alessio romagnoli -> mongolia, compasssionate -> estonia, unmarked -> denmark, spinach -> china, adenocarcinoma -> oman, black forest gateau -> uae, migraine -> nigeria, the pentagon -> tonga, all is fair in love and war -> rwanda, immortality -> italy, ...

heartier -> eritrea, thespian -> spain

really nicely done

especially impressive to spot "argentina" in "mountain range"

anyway I should really get back to working on this c4

Stiv

All correct! Well done to @msh210 for the initial spot, all who contributed in between, and to @juicifer for the full list. 'Mountain range' was my favourite of the whole bunch :) That was a fun little puzzle to construct for y'all... Couldn't believe it though when msh210's overlapping series turned out to be anagram-related too! (Greek letters)

'UAE' was a bit sketch, but the other U's weren't particularly forthcoming and the only one I could come up with for Ukraine involved a dark period of history that I thought was not appropriate to dredge up just for a frivolous CC sequence...

juicifer

CCCC: "America is taking over Britain ... sort of": alert (5)

@Stiv yeah I can see why you wouldn't want to use that

this could've worked for uganda tho

oAlt

@juicifer Am(B)er.

juicifer

15:59

correct

oAlt

@juicifer would have loved to see republic of the congo on that one

but then again

CCCC: Hololive song with Korean version by Korean boy band resulting in much skepticism (6)

Stiv

@juicifer Ooh, I didn't spot that one! Particularly surprising because I have a LOT of his band's stuff...

Ankoganit

@oAlt looks like DO U is a hololive song with Korean version, so this is DO U + BTS

oAlt

@Ankoganit Yep that's correct!

juicifer

ahh, nice

msh210

16:09

I don't get the wordplay there

BTS is a Korean boy band (TIL) but what's "do u"?

oh wait is it "do u, BTS?" = "Korean boy band resulting in much skepticism"?

Ankoganit

No, the def is just "much skepticism"

Do u is a hololive song that apparently has a Korean version as well

(didn't know this before I looked it up)

So DO U by (beside) BTS

msh210

oh of course… gosh, I'm dense sometimes

Ankoganit

nw lol, it's pretty niche trivia

CCCC: Predator and Alien return and join forces (4,2)

oAlt

@Ankoganit sorry :P

TBF I'm also just a poser – I've only listened to like two or three songs from BTS, and only several more for the hololive songs

juicifer

@Ankoganit oh I love this, it's PUMA ET< for TEAM UP

Ankoganit

16:17

@juicifer yep (and thanks!)

Stiv

Wow, that's lovely!

Ankoganit

:)

oAlt

Agreed, nice surface

Stiv

If 'lovely' is the right word for something involving Predator and Alien...

Ankoganit

@oAlt I had a BTS phase before they broke up, but I know nothing about vtubers and hololive and stuff

oAlt

16:19

Ahhh

juicifer

CCCC: Green (brand new) (4)

Ryan M

@juicifer Mint (ddef)

juicifer

absolutely

msh210

@Ankoganit nice

Ankoganit

:)

@RyanM ah that's neat

msh210

16:25

@juicifer you could just do green ddef &lit

… sorta

Ryan M

CCCC: We're dogs (7)

short one from me also

Ankoganit

woah

juicifer

@msh210 yeah I wasn't thrilled with that so I hedged my bets a little

@RyanM setters ddef?

Ryan M

indeed

@Ankoganit also +1 to the "delightful surface" compliments :)

Ankoganit

thanks :)

@juicifer ah nice

juicifer

16:40

CCCC: Potter found by leaving in a straight line (4)

Stiv

17:15

@juicifer Ooh, this is LILY (Potter, from the HP series) = LI(-near)LY, where 'near' is 'found by' and it's leaving 'linearly' ('in a straight line')

juicifer

@Stiv yep yep

Stiv

17:40

Only twigged pretty late that 'found by' was a crucial part of the wordplay, not just a connector!

juicifer

glad you found it tricky because I felt very devious when I came up with that :)

Stiv

(Hence my 'Ooh')

Having been very into the books a (surprisingly) long time ago, the name leaped out at me as a possible target but 4 letters seemed confusingly short for wordplay of the form ASTRAIGHT(LEAVING)LINE. Had to think different!

Stiv

18:25

CCCC: Signs of cold: mucus, grease and pus, regularly (10)

The Empty String Photographer

18:47

Goosebumps!

You get them when you shiver

mu**cus** -> goose
pus -> bumps

juicifer

that's ... not how cryptic clues work

@TheEmptyStringPhotographer although it is GOOSEBUMPS, because mucus is GOO, SEBUM is a type of grease, and P_S is "pus, regularly" (cc @Stiv)

Stiv

@juicifer Exactly right :)

juicifer

well, this one should go quickly:

CCCC: The subject and the length of my most recent C4 series? (3 2 5)

Stiv

@TheEmptyStringPhotographer You were warm, though you may not have realised quite how! It was the right word but you just had to work out how the rest of the clue really worked...

msh210

19:14

@juicifer gotta be The 39 Clues ddef

@juicifer nice clue

juicifer

@msh210 strictly speaking, it's THE + 39 CLUES (length of ...) but yeah

could you explain why for any folks watching at home?

@msh210 thanks

msh210

Sure. The answers to the your last 39 clues are the 39 clues of The 39 Clues.

… in order.

juicifer

I couldn't have said it better myself :)

have a spreadsheet

2

msh210

heh, I like its title

juicifer

thanks :)

msh210

19:17

what does !* mean?

juicifer

well the BOBBY BROWN part of the clue was an &lit but the COPPER part wasn't

I wasn't sure how to annotate a clue being half-&lit lol

msh210

ah, right

juicifer

for anybody keeping track of the medal count, @oAlt ran away with the gold with 15/39 solves, @msh210 nabbed silver with 8, and @Stiv once again made a late mad dash to come away with a tie for bronze, this time with @Jafe who also had 5

msh210

CCCC: A literature Nobelist's caper with noise, rather than quietly (6)

Ryan M

19:40

@msh210 FRANCE - Caper (prance) "with noise" (f, musically) rather than quietly (p, musically)

alternative, wrong answer: BELLOW ddef :-p

msh210

@RyanM yes indeed; well found

@RyanM :-)

According to Wikipedia's list, there are sixteen literature Nobelists with six-letter surnames.

(Besides Bellow and France, there are Elytis, Ernaux, Eucken, Gurnah, Hamsun, Handke, Heaney, Jensen, Neruda, Pinter, Sartre, Singer, Tagore, and Undset.)

Ryan M

CCCC: California constituent with tons of French food (9)

(hopefully very few people saw the bad paste there with the answer...oops >_<)

msh210

There are lots of room owners who can see it if they try. And I peeked before I knew it had the answer, so I'll recuse myself. :-)

Ryan M

I need to come up with a better organization of my scratch pad that doesn't lend itself to making that mistake, as that is the second time I've made it, though I caught it before sending the first time

Okay, scratch pad is now a spreadsheet

and edited the previous message so as to not show up unintentionally for any ROs or moderators using userscripts to show deleted messages, though I didn't purge history, for transparency

msh210

@RyanM huh, I didn't know you could edit a deleted message

How do you do that? I don't see UI for it.

juicifer

20:08

@RyanM oh lmao this is CA MEMBER T, a french food

Ryan M

@msh210 that's a function of SOCVR's CV Request Archiver, which despite the name has a variety of functions that make chat moderation far more pleasant.

msh210

hm, okay, thanks

Ryan M

@juicifer it is indeed, I was inspired by a ...very different clue... for it.

juicifer

glad to be of inspiration :)

and speaking of ... very different clues ... :

CCCC: Turned on by penis: "Big Unit" (5 7)

Ryan M

Appropriate that you were the one to solve it, really.

oh no

Stiv

20:13

@juicifer Wow, I am shocked to say I have literally never heard of this book series. I thought I was pretty well read in general, but apparently not. Was this particularly big in the States? (My wife, who is a librarian, has of course heard of it, she tells me... but somehow it has entirely passed me by...)

msh210

well, it's a kids' series, so if you weren't a kid (and didn't have a kid) of the right age when it came out, …

(I've never read any of it, myself, but my kid has.)

Ryan M

@juicifer Hmm, if it were "Turned on by big penis: good medical news (6, 6)" then I'd know the answer, but alas it is not.

Stiv

@msh210 I realise it post-dates my own childhood but I do read a lot with my kids (and read a lot of kids' books to keep me fresh for my own children's book writing) so I'm surprised it's never appeared on my radar. Though it looks like it was biggest in the years where I was suffering from child-induced sleep deprivation...

juicifer

@Stiv yeah idk how big it was but rick riordan wrote the first book in the series (and I think others - the series had several different authors) and I think that was post-percy jackson, so it wasn't small haha

msh210

Unusually for a series, it's by a bunch of different authors, each writing under his or her own name. I don't know how libraries — which typically alphabetize fiction by the author's name, at least in the States — handle it.

juicifer

20:18

I vaguely remember looking them up in the library as a kid and I think they were each under the individual authors last name, so I would have to look up e.g. "39 clues book 5" and figure out who wrote it before I knew where to look on the shelves

Stiv

(Actually, looking at the years of publication it seems like it was biggest in my footloose-and-fancy-free-pre-kids years when I definitely wasn't spending my time reading kids' books, so that probably explains the gap. Still, I'd have thought it would have popped up in a pub quiz at least... Never mind. TIL!)

Worth a read?

msh210

That's a trifle annoying. They could've gone the Franklin W. Dixon route, but I guess the authors wanted individual credit, and who can blame them.

@Stiv My kid thought not. :-)

Stiv

Ha!

juicifer

I enjoyed them when I was probably around 10-12 or so but I definitely didn't get all the way to the end of the series, though I don't remember why

no idea how they would hold up today to my adult brain

Stiv

If you haven't read it, The Floating Admiral is worth a read as a collaborative effort between many high-profile detective story writers in the 1930s. An interesting take on working together, one chapter each, with a rule that said you had to be able to explain your own anticipated ending after you'd written your chapter and how it all ties in, so you couldn't just make it harder for the next writer by adding loads of loose ends like the writers of Lost...

juicifer

20:23

I will say I was kinda frustrated when making the c4 series because the very first clue they found was "iron solute", which ... as far as I can tell is not a name that is used for any real substance outside of the 39 clues universe

*shakes fist at rick riordan*

msh210

@Stiv clicksaver service: archive.org/details/floatingadmiralb0000agat (see, I can do it too)

juicifer

so I was pretty confident the jig was gonna be up once someone googled that and almost every result was about the first 39 clues book, and then ofc y'all figured it out earlier than that anyway

msh210

@juicifer wait, I thought your clues were in the order in the books?

juicifer

there's actually an order to the clues that is different from the one in which they are discovered (which I learned while doing research for this series)

no idea what the order signifies if any

msh210

ah

juicifer

20:26

see the fan wiki

(note also that the official image for "iron solute" is ... a piece of paper with the word "resolution" on it, which is how they figured out the clue, but not the actual clue itself, so even the people behind it can't figure out what it is)

The Empty String Photographer

21:10

Could it be a chemical name

Unit -> nitrogen-> nitrate

(7 letters)

probably overthinking though

What about

Big unit could imply a unit

Like km

Ryan M

22:02

"Turned" feels like an anagram indicator, and the letter count works, but I can't get any 7-letter and 5-letter words that go together, let alone are a "unit"

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